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>> Thursday, 29 May 2014

This salsa is made in my humble kitchen right here in the Caribbean and it can be made in your kitchen too, regardless of your location. All you need is fresh ripe tomatoes.

Here in Barbados, we have been an enjoying a long season of tomatoes selling for as little as $1-one dollar (BDS) per pound (1 BDS dollar = US 50 cents). I have been making all kinds of sauces, chutneys, choka(s) and pickles with tomatoes. Totally loving this season.

I use my salsa with many things - bakes, roti, ladled over ground provisions, with chicken, seafood, eggs, biscuits (crackers). In other words, with everything but the traditional tortilla chips.

Making this salsa is easy and keeps for 2 weeks in the refrigerator and freezes easily. A few notes before the recipe.

I add a half-ripe tomato to the mix of tomatoes, this gives the little tartness that one would expect from the addition of fresh lime juice.

Steam-cook the tomatoes until a knife inserts easily with a little resistance in the center.

Sprinkle the finely diced onions with a little salt as it sits waiting for the tomatoes to cook.

Steam the hot peppers with the tomatoes rather than adding it raw to the sauce; the flavour and heat are better incorporated into the sauce since they will be pureed together.

Pulse intermittently when making the sauce in order to control the texture you want.

Puree the steamed pepper first, before adding the tomatoes, this way, the pepper can be completely pureed and not be in large pieces. De-seed the peppers if you only want the flavour and not the heat.

INGREDIENTS

2 lbs ripe tomatoes, steamed and skins removed

1 large scotch bonnet pepper (I used 2 because I wanted it very hot)

1/2 cup finely minced red onions

2 - 3 tablespoons finely chopped cilantro/coriander

Salt to taste

DIRECTIONS

Add the pepper to the bowl of a food processor and puree. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and then add the tomatoes and pulse to your desired consistency for the sauce.

Add the onions, cilantro along with salt to taste and pulse only 1 - 2 times to mix in the ingredients. Over-pulsing will affect the texture of the sauce. Taste for salt and adjust if necessary.

Pour the sauce into a bowl and stir a few times to mix well.

Serve immediately or set aside covered for 1 hour to serve at room temperature. If not serving right away, store in sterilised glass jars and refrigerate. Access the sauce always with clean utensils.